Loughborough College cyclist Sophie Thornhill has won a gold medal and smashed the Paralympic record on day two of the Games in Rio.
The 20 year old Sport student and pilot Helen Scott clocked 1:06.283 in the women’s B 1000 m time trial.
They beat world champions Larissa Klassen and pilot Haleigh Dolman from the Netherlands by 0.776 seconds.
“I can’t see the board so all I am looking for is a green or a red thing to see if they are up or down on our time and I couldn’t see a green thing throughout their race,” said Sophie.
“This has been months and months of hard work, and hours in the gym and velodrome to get here.”
Scott added: “It is absolutely amazing. We knew the time was good but those Dutch have gone faster this year and we were hoping and praying the whole way.
“Once we saw they were eight-tenths down in the last lap then we thought ‘surely they can’t make that up’ and I just can’t believe it. We have worked so hard for this.”
Pictured: Loughborough College cyclist Sophie Thornhill wins Paralympic gold in the B1000 m time trial at Rio 2016 (onEdition)